Backyard

So I have these neighbors that live behind me, my second story window and patio looks directly down into their back patio.Anyhow so there's a family that lives there but its also home to the son a younger guy, Chinese or Vietnamese I still havent figured out yet its really hard to tell for some reason, in his low 20s. He and his homeboys have made it their headquarters, their kick it spot, so I see and hear them all time smoking or drinking out back. But these guys are ghetto style, straight Oakland Asians. I've been wanting to connect with them for a long time but I havent really found the opening. I did once go up to them to invite them to the movie night but that was it and I do say whats up to them from up top but I dont want to intrude on their partying so I usually dont. The thing is the only time I really see them is when they are out back toking up, so thats the best place to strike up a convo. So today I go out back to grab something from my patio and I see the dudes and they were weighing out their twamp sacks, I didnt really notice what they were up to initially so I said whats up, and they replied but they kept looking at me uncomfortably thats when I realized what they were doing. I dont care, I not going to call the cops. So I get home tonight and I look out to see that they put up a sheet to hide their business, I found it funny after all this time they finally think to put something up. 3 years I've been here and now the opportunity is lost, not really but the most obvious way is. I'll just have to be more intentional now.


reinforced with tarp

Oakland Crime

So I've been living in Oakland, just on the east side of the lake, Oakland has it's rep but this neighborhood is supposedly up and coming, working class, but we do have our share of crime.
Let's take a look at all that I've encountered since I moved here in Sept 07:

-caught two teenage kids sneaking out from our backyard, didnt get it at first but later went back and saw a used condom on the ground.
-got my laptop taken from inside my place.
-got my camera taken from the movie theater, but this was in Emeryville.
-Tim got his car jacked and totaled.
-Nate got his radio stolen from his civic.
-someone walked in stole Daphnes purse.
-Someone took Elaines wallet out of her bag inside the cafe.
-black dude in suit got beat and mugged in the parking lot.
-Ritch got his catalytic converter taken right off the bottom of his car.
-got hit by taggers, all toys by-the-way.
-one of the neighbors got her car shot twice, but that was down the street.
-Madalyn got her car broken into.
-Sasha got her house broken into.
-a bunch of laptop snatchings from inside of Woodys cafe.
-Asian kid got shot in the Luckys lot 2 blocks over.
-and the Finale, I got mugged at gunpoint in the lot 2 days ago.

This is life in Oakland.

They Got Me

This is so ironic, but an important part of the journey.

I got mugged last night, Dec 15, (about 10:50pm) at gunpoint by some dudes in the Regen parking lot.

I had just gotten out of my car completely distracted trying to manage the backpack and other things in my arms when about 30 secs into it 2 young guys approach me asking for my wallet. They were black males, 18-23 maybe, black hooded sweat shirts with the hood up over their heads, welding a semi-auto 0.22. Before I could even respond they started going through my pockets and pulled out my cash and wallet. They ended up running off with my backpack, wallet, cell phone, cars keys and about 5 bucks in cash, but only after a brief debate about whether or not to take my car. And he did hit the car alarm to verify which car the alarm belonged to making me suspicious that they might come back for it. We got it on tape but there's no way to make out faces. Also another suspicious thing is that there was a car in the lot waiting that pulled off just as I parked, the police believe this was the get away vehicle that probably waited for them around the corner.

There wasn't any physical violence, I'm okay, learned my lesson and it's more just a huge inconvenience (tons of phone calls and unplanned errands). And again I was tempted to dismiss Oakland as hopeless and be off but I think now this just motivates me to want to do more to transform this place. It's going to continue happening, it might happen to me again, I just have to make sure I carry less on me and am alert. This was for a reason, it changes my perspective on things and allows me to have empathy that only comes from experience.

The OPD was amazing, by-the-way, they were here even before I got off the phone with the 911 operator. Oh and 4 people got hit earlier that night and 2 more as the officer was taking my report. They apparently work in maybe 4 groups of 2-3 hitting simultaneously, taking advantage of the fact that OPD can't be omnipresent.




The whole thing went down in less than a minute.